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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26941012">The Great Gold Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Shadow</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_pointer/pseuds/blue_pointer'>blue_pointer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Study in Gold [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Critical Role (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action, Adventure &amp; Romance, Angst, Can you say ass-whooping boys and girls?, Canon Temporary Character Death, Don't Make Gilmore Take Off His Earrings, Don't copy to another site, Episode: c01e044 The Sunken Tomb, Gilmore said mine, M/M, Magical Combat, Metallic Dragon!Gilmore, Vaxmore, never enter into a contract with a supernatural being without reading the fine print, some secrets revealed, this Hannibal reference is for you john</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:01:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,267</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26941012</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_pointer/pseuds/blue_pointer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy failed in his ritual contribution to Revivify Vex’ahlia in the sunken tomb, leaving both Vex and Vax vulnerable to a desperate bargain with an unknown god. If only they had a divine creature in their back pocket...</p><p>A battle takes place on the astral plane as Vox Machina fights to save Vex'ahlia's life.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Shaun Gilmore &amp; Vex'ahlia, Shaun Gilmore/Vax'ildan, The Raven Queen &amp; Vax'ildan (Critical Role), Vax'ildan &amp; Vex'ahlia (Critical Role)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Study in Gold [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906693</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Great Gold Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Shadow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> “Take me instead, you raven bitch!” </em>
</p><p>Gilmore started awake, feeling a forceful pull on his link to Vax’ildan. Was this the moment? Had Death come to reclaim its acolyte? </p><p>With eyes unfocused, Gilmore scried down the length of their connection and saw...not Death, but something else. Someone else on the other end; a dark force attempting to sever his connection with Vax’ildan. Immediately, Gilmore gripped the link, pouring his spiritual energy into the thread to strengthen it against attack. He refused to let their connection be broken. </p><p><em> Whoever you are</em>, he told the dark presence, <em> let go now or face dire consequences. You have been warned.  </em></p><p>The laughter that echoed back at Gilmore made him snarl. Who would dare?</p><p>Gilmore reached out with invisible talons and clamped down on the thread, beginning to pull. The force at the opposite end was strong, but his love was stronger. Gilmore’s eyes began to glow as he extended his senses down the line, searching for Vax. There was only one loser in a matched tug o’ war between supernatural beings, and it was the mortal caught between them. He needed to assess Vax’ildan’s condition before putting his whole strength behind this. And right now, Gilmore couldn’t feel Vax at all, which was not a good sign. He refused to let go, but Gilmore would not let his boy be torn in two, either. </p><p>He allowed the pull on the opposite end to drag him forward, just enough to jump-start transformation. Gilmore clenched his teeth as the force of it tore open his gut wound, and fresh blood soaked his bandages. Feeling his body slipping away, he rolled out of bed and reached down to scrawl runes across the stone floor in his own blood. Holding tight to the thread with one hand, the fingers of Gilmore’s casting hand moved feverishly, painting the symbols in a tight circle. He had to create a firm anchor if he hoped to get back to his body. </p><p>The spell complete, he let go of the physical, allowing the force at the other end to draw him fully into the astral plane. Gilmore’s true form burst into the darkness beyond the Veil like a supernova, disintegrating the sentient shadows that stood between him and Vax’ildan. Stoking the fires in his belly, Gilmore soared down the line of their connection, preparing to do battle with whomever waited at the other end. </p><p>He opened his wings wide, feeling the stretch deep in every tendon. It felt good to inhabit his astral form once more, and to fly the way he was meant to. That gave him strength as Gilmore descended into a deepening darkness that obscured the opposite end of his connection to Vax.  </p><p>“Who is it that would dare try to take what is mine?” He squinted into the shadows beyond, impatient. “Show yourself!” Gilmore roared, sending a great gout of flame before him that set the lingering shadow ablaze. </p><p>His dragonfire revealed the cloaked figure of the Raven Queen holding Vax’ildan’s soul on a leash before her. “He offered himself freely,” her quiet voice replied. </p><p>“Show me the terms of your pact,” Gilmore demanded. He landed opposite her, his shining scales setting her dark robe into harsh relief.</p><p>“That is not for you to read.” </p><p>A weak counter argument if Gilmore had ever heard one. “This cowardice is unbecoming of a warrior.” How far had she dwindled in power to haggle and slither on the ground for one mortal soul? “Show me, on your honor, or I will read it for myself in him. It will just take longer, and you test my wrath with each moment of delay.” </p><p>She seemed to know him then. “Elder brother. In the Second War we fought together shoulder to shoulder. Allies such as we do not quarrel over the lives of mortals.” </p><p>“You are not my blood. Do not invoke it!” he snarled. “If you had the due respect you claim, you would not attempt to take what is mine. Discontinue this offense now. Release him!” </p><p>“What was freely given cannot be taken away.” She sounded smug. Godhood had changed her. </p><p>Gilmore took a step toward the Raven Queen, smoke billowing from his jaws. “My claim supercedes yours. Witch.” </p><p>“It was willingly done. You have no power over this pact.” </p><p>“You will not take him from me! Let him go or prepare to do battle!” Gilmore was losing patience with this pantomime of negotiation.</p><p>“A challenge? Blustering sun. You’ve already lost.” Still holding tight the leash on Vax’ildan, she grew in size until they were equal. </p><p>“He is MINE and you will not take him!” Gilmore lashed his great tail, knocking her prone before loosing a white-hot stream of flame, burning until his lungs were empty. </p><p>The shadowsilk of her robes caught fire and burned brightly, but the familiar porcelain mask remained serene. “You cannot win,” she said, casting her shadows into his face. </p><p>Gilmore laughed, snapping at them with eager jaws, his inner furnace blazing up to shine through his golden scales a blinding holy light that ate the shadows up. “But think of all the damage I could do first,” he said, blowing fire until her mask began to sweat. “How much will you enjoy your prize without limbs, without eyes, without the will left behind that empty mask?” Gilmore slammed her to the ground, giant razor-sharp talons pinning her in place. “Your looming obscurity has made you a fool. The warrior queen I knew did not have to stoop to tricks and technicalities to have her way.” He watched her consider, glancing back at Vax and then to him. “Choose wisely,” Gilmore warned. “After all, what is time to you who exist Between?” </p><p>“You make a fair point,” she said at last. “Very well. I can wait to claim my prize.” Gilmore felt her hold on the thread loosen. In good faith, he disengaged his claws and let her up. “But I will still have him in the end.” </p><p>“Take your place in time,” Gilmore growled. “You do not belong here.” </p><p>As she gathered herself in her weakened state, Gilmore saw what the shadows had been hiding: Vex’ahlia, lying still and cold on a wet stone floor. Now he understood. She had been intending to take them both, the terms of the bargain not sharply defined, and one already in her grasp. </p><p>“You have been paid.” Gilmore snapped his great jaws at her, watching her stumble back. “Now go! Back to the shadow whence you came!” His fury at her unjust deception made Gilmore’s inner fires rage, his scales glowing more and more bright, until even the masked face had to turn away. “Go!”</p><p>He felt rather than saw her absence, the once-taut line tying him to Vax released, and a vacuum of space quickly filled by the blinding light he was shining. </p><p>Gilmore crawled forward to lie between the twins, curling one wing protectively around Vax’ildan’s etheric body. Through the Veil, he could see the Revivify spell flickering. Gilmore reached out and breathed light into the enchanted moonstone, completing the spell. He waited, his body thrumming with magic and holy flame, burning as brightly as he had since The Calamity, keeping watch until Vex’ahlia began to breathe once more. </p><p>“My darling boy,” Gilmore sighed, nuzzling the disembodied spirit lovingly before nudging it back inside Vax’ildan’s mortal frame. Then he let go, sailing backwards toward his own body like a shooting star. </p><p>As fast as he’d left it, Gilmore fell back into his human shell, and lay on the stone floor, bleeding but alive.</p>
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